MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 105 



would begin. The work of skinning is performed by all the men on 

 the island, and every one participating in it is allowed to .share in the 

 proceeds. 



As the seals are not wholly at rest until the females arrive, great care 

 is necessary in selecting the time and place from which to drive. These 

 points are determined by a head man, who assumes the whole control 

 of this part of the business. In the month of May only the small 

 number required by the natives for food are driven. In June, when 

 the seals are more numerous, they are driven and killed for their skins, 

 although the percentage of prime skins is at this time very small, often 

 not twenty per cent of the whole flock driven. About the middle of 

 July the females go off into the water, and there is a period of general 

 rest among all the seals, during which time the natives desist entirely 

 from killing for from ten to fourteen days. At the close of this period 

 the great body of yearling seals arrive. These, mixing with the younger 

 class of males, spread over the uplands and greatly increase the pro- 

 portion of prime skins, but also greatly increase the difficulty of killing 

 properly. Up to this time, there having been no females with the 

 seals driven up for killing, it was only necessary to distinguish ages; 

 this the difference in size enables them to do very easily. Now, how- 

 ever, nearly one half are females, and the slight difference between these 

 and the younger males renders it necessary for the head man to see 

 every seal killed, and only a strong interest in the preservation of the 

 stock can insure the proper care. September and October are consid- 

 ered the best months for taking the seals. 



Besides the skin, each seal will yield one gallon and a half of oil, and 

 the linings of all the, throats are saved and salted as an article of trade 

 to other ports in the Territory, these being used by the natives for mak- 

 ing water-proof frocks to wear in their skin canoes when hunting the 

 sea otter or fishing. These parts have no very great commercial 

 value, though they are considered by the natives as indispensable to 

 them. 



It will be seen by the foregoing description of the habits of the fur 

 seal, that the conditions necessary for their preservation and increase 

 are very simple. The first is that they be not unnecessarily disturbed 

 during the period of their arrival on the island. Second, that care be 

 taken in killing to kill only males, and to reserve enough of these for 

 breeding purposes. If these precautions are taken, they increase faster 



